Spam Attack Hits Twitter; Tied To Gawker Breach

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SAN FRANCISCO (CBS/AP) — A spam attack on Twitter showed why it’s wise to use different passwords for Internet accounts.

Twitter said Monday that hackers broke into an unspecified number of accounts and sent spam promoting acai berry drinks. Twitter said the passwords came from an earlier breach at Gawker Media, which runs Gawker, Gizmodo and other technology and media sites. People who used the same passwords for both sites were vulnerable.

Twitter said only a small number of its 175 million users were affected but did not indicate how many. It said it proactively reset passwords it suspects were compromised.

Attacks on social networking sites such as Twitter and Facebook are popular because people are more inclined to click on links appearing from friends, rather than e-mail spam.